After an Easter Egg hunt and far too much food with the in-laws over the weekend, I had some time this afternoon and did some more fibreglassing on the dashtop. Having tidied the edges up with the Dremel, I set about joining the top and front sections together. Having folding some chopped strand mat over and put a heavy weight on it to retain more of a right-angled shape rather than a flat sheet - makes it much easier to work with. Out came the brushes and resin and under the blazing sun I connected the two bits together. I also laid some big sheets of fibreglass over the top, to make everything a little more uniform and stronger. It needs a bit of sanding and filling to make it less "bumpy" but as it will be covered I won't be spending a huge amount of time on it. I now need to figure out how I shall mount it - I have some ideas but I'll consult a couple of friends as three or four brainstorming is better than one.
When I first installed the wiper linkage and wheelboxes, someone advised me that it was wrong and wouldn't work as they were poking out too far. After looking at some of the early pictures before I stripped the car I could see that I was indeed wrong. Trouble was, I needed a spacer with a hole large enough to accommodate the wheelboxes, and unless from getting one from a specialist, I would need to be creative with what was in the Manroom. I settled on a pair of tie-bar bushes. Trouble with bushes (poly or rubber) is that they compress, so holding them steady whilst drilling would be difficult. The solution was a Jubilee cilp surrounding the bush, giving enough inflexibility that I could pop it into the drill vice. I used a 16mm flat wood bit to drill the hole and they fitted beautifully. A little bit of ingenuity with the plastic "washers" the nut sits on and all looks great. Job done!
Front now joined to top
Additional fibreglass on the top too.
Wiper wheelboxes fitted way too high
Doctored tie bar bushes made ideal spacers and all fits together perfectly. Much more clearance below, too.
Dash top bunged in place to dry properly whilst I establish how to fit it...